What a lousy year it’s been in the greenhouse this time around. So far we’ve had just two tomatoes, which we sliced onto a home-made pizza. Not great, is it.
In an effort to chivvy things along a bit we trimmed the plants back quite harshly. The theory was that then they would focus all of their attention on ripening all those green tomatoes they had hanging from their branches. I’m glad (relieved) to say it seems to be paying off.
Tonight I picked six good ripe toms: five Moneymaker and one Black Russian. Admittedly the Black Russian isn’t as dark in colour as I’d hoped, but I didn’t want to leave it any longer as it looked like it was starting to turn – in a bad way.
The question is, will the remaining tomatoes ripen the same way, or are we going to be making green tomato chutney again this year?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
My Father in-law has had problems ripening his tomatoes on the plant this year – His advice was to pull them off when they’ve started going red – put them in your kitchen drawer (preferably one that doesn’t get opened all the time for a few days and they ripen almost perfectly.
But they have to have started to ripen already.
And it works… at least for him!
Vince
I pick all ours, green, when they are the size I want them. I them transfer them to the lounge S – Facing window sill with plastic cloches over them and they turn a perfect red.
Our tomato harvest has been very poor this year. Still got several green ones left, so I may have to do something with those.
My tomato harvest – Gardener’s Delight and Black Cherry (five plants each, all outdoors under plastic) – was good, although lots of green fruits were left last week. The late warm sunshine certainly helped chivvy things along, some are still ripening on the windowsill and the last 2 1/2 lb are in the chutney. I hope you have better luck for next year.